The subject matter herein relates generally to a cable rack assembly that may be used with a communication system, such as a cable backplane system or a cable midplane system, in which the cable rack assembly has a two-dimensional array of cable connectors.
Various communication systems may include a two-dimensional array of electrical connectors for interconnecting different communication devices. For example, cable backplane or midplane systems, such as network systems, servers, data centers, and the like, utilize at least one two-dimensional array of cable connectors to interconnect daughter card assemblies. The daughter card assemblies may be referred to as line cards or switch cards. The cable connectors have front ends that engage corresponding mating connectors of the daughter card assemblies. The cable connectors also have back ends that are coupled to cables. The cables extend between the back ends of different cable connectors to communicatively couple the corresponding cable connectors. In a cable backplane system, the front ends of coupled cable connectors face in a common direction. In a cable midplane system, the coupled cable connectors can face in opposite directions. For example, a first two-dimensional array of the cable connectors may face in a first direction and a second two-dimensional array of the cable connectors may face in an opposite second direction. The cable connectors of the first two-dimensional array may be communicatively coupled to the cable connectors of the second two-dimensional array through the cables.
In a known cable backplane system, the two-dimensional array of cable connectors is formed by a plurality of brick assemblies that are stacked side-by-side. A brick assembly includes two parallel plates and a plurality of cable connectors positioned between the parallel plates. The cable connectors of each brick assembly are arranged side-by-side in a series. When the brick assemblies are stacked with respect to one another, the cable connectors form the two-dimensional array. More specifically, the cable connectors of each brick assembly may form one row or one column of the two-dimensional array.
There has been a general market demand to increase a density of electrical connectors in communication systems that include two-dimensional arrays. Increasing the density of the electrical connectors can reduce the overall size of the communication system and/or permit more electrical connectors to be used within a designated space. With respect to the cable backplane system described above, however, the two-dimensional array is assembled using a number of brick assemblies that each includes a pair of plates. Each plate separates adjacent cable connectors by a thickness of the plate, which consequently increases a distance (or pitch) between the adjacent cable connectors. Collectively, the plates may substantially increase a width or height of the communication system.
Accordingly, a need remains for a communication system having a two-dimensional array of cable connectors in which adjacent cable connectors are separated by a shorter distance than known systems.